Change Over Time
by faketooth
Summary: A collection of one-shots centered around the Young Justice: Invasion season. Will involve multiple characters, a wide range in genres, and deal with different topics. Readers and critiques will be much appreciated. Ch. 5: How it Went. Dick mourns the loss of a friend.
1. Fall Together

**Summary**: After weeks of living through an absolute hell, Virgil was having a hard time trying to imagine how his situation could get any worse.

**Characters**: Virgil Hawkins, Asami Koizumi, Eduardo Dorado Jr., Tye Longshadow

**Special Notes**: Takes place before the episode "The Hunt"

* * *

He kept telling himself that things could only get better from here on out.

After all, after weeks of living through an absolute hell, Virgil was having a hard time trying to imagine how his situation could get any worse. First the Reach and then Star Labs, they were passed around from one evil to a slightly lesser evil.

And even if it did, at least he managed to make some new friends out of it. Out of the whole messed up experience experience, only one good thing came out of it. Well, three, counting the people that wouldn't leave his side.

Virgil couldn't explain it, but he trusted these kids a lot more than he probably should have. Even worse, he felt that they all reciprocated the same sentiment. And no one, _no one_, could see or wanted to see that they were just scared and needed someone to lean on. Someone to support them.

No one's offered them that strength yet, so they worked with what they had, and that was each other.

At least Luthor tried to, but Black Canary made the same empty promises. They were wary to trust him, but he couldn't have been any worse than the others. And he did something that neither the Reach nor Star Labs did, he offered them a choice.

After having felt a total loss of control over his own life for so long, the fact that he had a choice in what happened to him almost felt alien.

They didn't _have_ to join Luthor, and agree to his little project. They could have turned around and go back home at any moment they desired. And the only reason Virgil didn't was that because for some of his new friends, home wasn't an option.

And even though for Virgil it was, even though he missed his family and wanted to see them, he couldn't abandon them either. Not after all they've been through together. So he made the decision to stick around for a little while longer.

He made that decision for them, for Tye, for Ed, and for Sam.

After all, how could things get any worse?


	2. Unacceptable

**Summary: **The murder of Marie Logan was supposed to be Queen Bee's revenge on her insubordinate pawn. But in actuality, M'gann probably couldn't thank the Bialyan monarch enough.

**Characters**: Miss Martian, Beast Boy, Queen Bee

The murder of Marie Logan was supposed to be Queen Bee's revenge on her insubordinate pawn. But in actuality, M'gann probably couldn't thank the Bialyan monarch enough. Because out of the whole ordeal, she had gained a little brother which she loved and cherished so much.

It was a sick and twisted frame of mind, M'gann knew that, and she couldn't stand herself when she thought about it for too long. But she couldn't help herself either. She seriously loved that kid, he was quite a remarkable child that continued to make her proud with every single passing day. And the way he_ looked up_ at her, with wide eyes filled to the brim with awe and adoration that she knew she didn't deserve.

She would take it though, and would give back as much as she possibly could.

M'gann was grateful - and relieved - for the fact that she was only mind-reader around other than her Uncle J'onn. If anyone ever realized her true thoughts and feelings in regards to Marie Logan she knew they would never look at her the same way again. She still worries that one day Gar might develop more telepathic abilities though.

A human obtaining traits of an entirely different species due to a blood transfusion was a case of the first of its kind. There was no telling what other side-effects might come out of it. Were his shapeshifting abilities permanent? It's been five years now so M'gann felt safe to say that they were. But what about other abilities that he might have but has simply not manifested yet? Could he eventually be a telepath like her as well?

She didn't know. No one did and only time could eventually tell them the answers. Until then she lives in constant paranoia that one day Gar would find out. About not only Marie Logan, but also _why_ Queen Bee had done what she had done.

It was M'gann's fault. All of it, it was her fault.

Years ago the Queen had threatened to hurt Garfield if M'gann didn't do exactly as she wanted. Despite this, the Martian, along with the rest of the original team, formulated a plan against their enemies. They were supposed to capture Queen Bee at the final confrontation, unfortunately she had gotten away with Luthor.

Giving the Queen all the time in the world to formulate her own plan and exact on the revenge that she had promised.

And M'gann should have realized that even Queen Bee wasn't ruthless enough to harm an innocent child. She could still hurt him through his loved ones though. And so she did, by taking his mother away from him.

And it was all because of her, because of M'gann.

"You have to tell him the truth."

Conner would insist, as he often did.

"He deserves to know the truth, M'gann."

And he was right. She knew that. But…

"I can't. He'll hate me if he ever found out. And I don't think I would be able to handle that."


	3. It's Raining, It's Pouring

**Summary**: A storm keeps Bart up, luckily he has Jaime.

**Characters**: Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash II), Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle III)

**Special Notes**: A tad slash-y at the end, but not obviously so.

* * *

The gods must have been angry.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to imagine he was some place else. Which was a lot harder than it seemed as the rain kept beating down on the windows and roof in sheets, creating such a cacophony of sound that Bart was wondering just how in the hell anyone could sleep with that racket going on.

Then, even with his eyes screwed shut, he could still see the flash of lightning behind his eyelids, and heard the crack of thunder not too far behind it. He couldn't help the small whimper than forced its way through his lips. God, how he hated storms like this.

Squinting one eye open he evaluated his surroundings. Jaime was fast asleep on the bed right across from him. When the older teen offered to let him spend the night at his house after their mission ran later than originally planned, Bart couldn't say yes fast enough. Now though, with these freak storm going on outside, Bart just wanted to be somewhere where he felt safer.

If he could just get to the bed and slip in without Jaime noticing, Bart just might be able to get some rest for the night.

As silent as a cat, he rose and took one leaping step to cross the short distance between the two of them. As he pulled up one knee onto the mattress and was about to bring up the other one, more lightning and thunder erupted the night sky, forcing Bart to quickly and hastily bury himself under the sheets.

Without even knowing it, or making a conscious move of it, Bart's hand found Jaime's arm and clutched tightly to the sleeve.

He could hear his heart thumping in his ears and tried to will it to slow down. The speedster took a deep breath and buried his face into the pillow.

Ok, there, he would be fine now. If he could just fall asleep it would be like the storm wasn't even happening. Unfortunately though, the unrelenting clashes appeared to have other plans in store for him. He was about to drift off only for the thunder to jar him awake causing him to dig his nails into Jaime's arm without meaning it.

Just as he was about to give up entirely on trying to sleep, he felt his friend turn over and wrap his other arm around his slim body.

"Relax, 'ts jus' a storm," Jaime mumbled sleepily into his hair, and Bart was unsure if the boy was even fully conscious of his actions. At the moment though, he couldn't really bring himself to care. He sighed in relief and melted into the embrace, and managed to bring himself to sleep.

The storm just didn't seem so scary anymore.


	4. How it Went

**Summary: **Dick mourns the loss of a friend.

**Characters:** Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Wally West (Kid Flash I)

**Special Notes:** Takes place after Endgame. Also, some language.

* * *

They had been drifting apart for some time now.

So much so that Dick found it hard to believe that at one point they had actually called each other "best buds", blindly following the other out of one sticky situation only to wind up into a even worse one.

They always came out on top though. That's who they were, that's what was expected of them. It's what they expected out of themselves.

At one point, Dick would have proudly claimed that no one knew him better than his best bud. The duo did everything that best friends did. They teased each other, they worried over one another, they finished each other's thoughts and sentences, they shared tears. And if the situation called for it, you could bet that they were there to keep each other in line.

But, life went on. And they went their separate ways.

If Dick had to point out a single moment in time when the drifting first started, initially he would have said it was when he left _him_. But then he would pause and put some more thought into it, finally coming out to say that it started even before that. It started when he found _her_.

All the time that they had spent together was suddenly halved when those two got together. Instead of going out of his way to spend time with Dick, he bent over backwards just to see her. Of course, Dick couldn't bring himself to be mad at her for wanting him all to herself. They were good for each other, and Dick was a good friend. As long as he was happy, so was he.

Then, he broke out the big news.

_"Didn't you hear me? I said we're quitting." Dick, at the time only recently having taken the Nightwing persona, blinked and shook his head._

_"Sure, but you don't mean that," he recovered quickly, dismissing it all with an airy laugh. Green eyes shot into his masked ones, and he saw into them a rare seriousness. _

_"I mean it, Dick. Artemis and I are done. We're moving on." _

_"What do you mean you're _done_? You don't get to decide that, this isn't something that we can just drop once we're sick of it. People depend on us!" Uh-oh. He was losing his hold on his emotions; he didn't usually burst out like that. His friend merely sighed though, and cast his eyes onto the ocean in front of him. Nightwing didn't take his eyes off him though, looking for a sign that this was all just some stupid joke. _

_"The team will do just fine without us. You're getting new members everyday." And already it was his team, not theirs. _

_"Tula and Garth are doing great, and Kaldur hasn't seemed so happy in a long time now with them around. New Robin could do some cooling down, but I'm sure he'll be fine. And Gar's already mastering his powers so fast, M'gann said that even she can't shapeshift as quickly and well as him." _

_This was all true of course. But what about him? What was he supposed to do without his best bud? Dick bit his tongue though, and didn't voice out his concerns. Instead he swallowed his opinions and congratulated him. _

_"Ok. I'm happy for you guys, and if this is what you want than you should do it," he said numbly, not quite feeling like himself. The smile he got in return almost made it worth it though. _

_"Thanks, man. I knew you'd understand." _

_A silence fell between them, neither of them quite willing to break it. Finally, his friend laughed and wrapped his jacket around himself tighter against the biting northeastern wind. _

_"Stanford, man. Can you believe it? I've always wanted to live in sunny California." _

_"Yeah... I know."_

After that, Dick thought he would have a hard time adjusting. But with the team keeping him so busy, he only rarely found himself looking for a certain speedster on the battlefield before realizing that he would never find what he was looking for.

And life went on. They still saw each other often, three thousand miles meant less than nothing to a speedster. He would often zoom by to check on how they were all doing. And when something kept him tethered to California, they kept in touch via their comm links or video chat.

But over time, the visits became further and further spaced apart until they just stopped all together.

_"Sorry, I've been so busy with school." _

_"Yeah, I get it." _

And then, either one or both of them would stop ringing the other. They didn't chat as often as they used to and eventually the calls only happened on special occasions.

But they were both busy. Dick with the team, dealing with losses and fake betrayals, and the speedster with projects and tests. For the most part, Dick managed to get him completely off his mind. Until the day he needed their cooperation.

They were still heroes at heart. He knew they wouldn't refuse, at least, she definitely wouldn't.

_"This isn't a social call, guys. I have something very important to discuss with you." Dick announced the day he showed up, quite unexpectedly, at their door. _

_"Whatever it is, count us out. You know none of that is our business anymore." _

_"It's about Kaldur." _

_They held their breath. They had heard about the news the day it happened. No one saw it coming, and they were all affected by it. Kaldur was their friend, their leader. He was supposed to protect them, and now he was fighting on the side against theirs. _

_"Look, Kal's betrayal has been hard on all of us. But I still don't see what this has to with us," she spoke up, intruding on their little stare down. If he knew his friend as well as he thought he did, then he knew that Dick was keeping something hidden up his sleeve. _

_"Because he hasn't betrayed us. He's on an undercover mission, has been for all this time. And now all of our hard work will mean nothing without the help of you two." _

He was furious at him for forcing such a decision upon them. Artemis agreed without much thought. Her friend needed her help, and she wasn't about to let him down. That was that for her.

But Dick knew that he had driven the wedge between them even further that day. He would hold this grudge on him for the rest of his days, for putting her in danger.

Then they had their little... confrontation. That was the last conversation that Dick had with his friend. And it ended on the worse imaginable note. Artemis joined Kaldur on the side against theirs. And the speedster may have loved Kaldur like a brother, but he had his doubts. And the doubts grew to paranoia when the safety of the one he loved most was in jeopardy.

He would never forgive Dick if something happened to her.

Everything worked out in the end though. Kaldur played both the Light and the Reach like the fools they were, his faith in the team forever unwavering. What was supposed to be the final confrontation was one of the happiest days of his life.

His friend wasn't mad at him anymore, they were joking and kicking ass like they used to when they were teenagers. They had stopped the bad guy and had won the day. It should have ended there.

Instead, Black Beetle pulled a fast one on them. They were caught off guard and everyone was scrambling around the globe, trying to play their part in the role.

Once again though, by some miracle, they had actually managed to pull it off once more. They had saved the world for what seemed like the twentieth time in the past couple months.

And then everything went wrong.

No one knows what happened to him. Just that he disappeared and that it seemed unlikely that he was going to come back. Dick knew it was going to hurt, just not by this much.

Damn it, Wally...


End file.
